NEW YORK — Da’Sean Butler’s second game-winner in three days gave West Virginia its first Big East championship.
The senior guard, who banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give West Virginia a quarterfinal win, scored in the lane with 4.2 seconds left and the seventh-ranked Mountaineers beat No. 22 Georgetown 60-58 on Saturday night.
Third-seeded West Virginia, the only one of the top four seeds to escape the quarterfinals, was making its second championship game appearance. Just like the Mountaineers’ two other wins in this tournament, this one was close and Butler had a lot to do with it.
Butler, who had 20 points for the Mountaineers (27-6), was selected the tournament MVP and there wasn’t much doubt about that.
Chris Wright had 20 points for the eighth-seeded Hoyas (23-10). His length-of-the-court drive to tie the game came up short.
The win left West Virginia in the running for a possible No. 1 seed when the NCAA tournament field is announced Sunday night.
Wellington Smith had 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Mountaineers, who have won six straight and eight of nine.
The championship game was the perfect cap to a tournament full of close games — seven of the 15 were decided by three points or fewer — and upsets.
Austin Freeman, who was diagnosed last week with diabetes, hit a 3 for Georgetown with 51 seconds left to tie the game at 56.
Butler missed a 3-point attempt about 15 seconds later and West Virginia was able to get the rebound. Wright fouled Joe Mazzulla out near midcourt with 27 seconds to go and he made both to break the tie.
Wright scored on a nice spin move with 17 seconds left for the game’s final tie.
West Virginia took a timeout with 9 seconds to go. Butler got the ball just below the foul line and hit a fallaway in the lane for the 60-58 lead.
Wright’s miss at the buzzer left Georgetown still with its record of seven Big East titles.
The Hoyas, who had blowouts wins over South Florida and Marquette around a 91-84 victory over top-seeded and third-ranked Syracuse in the quarterfinals, were trying to become the second-lowest seed to win a championship behind Syracuse, which was in 2006 as a No. 9 seed. They were also trying to become the third team to win four games in a tournament, matching Syracuse in 2006 and Pittsburgh in 2008.
The one thing Georgetown does know about its seeding in the NCAA tournament is that it will be better than the No. 8 it managed in the conference tournament.
Basketball
Related Photos
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West Virginia’s Da’Sean Butler (1) drives to the basket as Georgetown’s Jason Clark (21) defends during the first half of the Big East Championship game Saturday night in New York. Associated Press
Butler wins another one for West Virginia
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